It is though, you can see the single and partnered rate on the CL website and they are clearly different and it also mentions maintenance affecting ftb. I'll do some calculating on their site when I get home to show some examples.

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Also if your ftb was never affected by cs perhaps you were never paid enough. This is what she wants to know, why does cs affect ftb even when it isn't a significant amount yet she can earn a lot more through wages before it is affected. And rent assistance rates are different (they are, they clearly are on the site no matter what people and their friends were paid.)

Also if your ftb was never affected by cs perhaps you were never paid enough. This is what she wants to know, why does cs affect ftb even when it isn't a significant amount yet she can earn a lot more through wages before it is affected. And rent assistance rates are different (they are, they clearly are on the site no matter what people and their friends were paid.)

Income 1 $45,000
Income 2 $10,000
2 children
no child support
$300 per week rent

they will receive:

FTB A $315.56
FTB B $109.48
clean energy supplement A $6.30
clean energy supplement B $2.66
Rent assistance $127.26
A total of $561.26
So highlighting BlissedOut's *actual* question - why does she receive less FTB A and rent assistance despite paying the same amount of rent and receiving a small amount of child support which does not put her over the FTB part A threshold?!

The only reason I can think of is that the $5000 in child support will have already been taxed. Therefore, the single parent in this example, would get to keep the entire $5000. The single parent will only be paying tax on the $40,000.

In the example with the couple with a single income will be taxed on the entire $45,000 and paying $62.50 tax per fortnight on the additional $5000 per annum. The single parent is now ahead by about $5 per fortnight.

That is the only rationale I can think of for the disparity.

ETA - a single parent earning $40,000 and the youngest child still under 8 would also be entitled to a part single parent pension. Not much a fortnight though, but the discounts on prescriptions and utility bills will be worth a bit. I do understand that Blissed Out isn't entitled to SPP though.

That makes a bit more sense! I do believe the people who get the most out of the system are the couple with one ok income and one small. They wouldn't pay any tax on the lowest income and still get a very decent amount of family assistance.

I still don't see the logic in less rent assistance. If it genuinely is meant purely for assisting with the cost of rent, yet one family gets less and one more despite paying the same amount of rent... it's not logical.

The only reason I can think of is that the $5000 in child support will have already been taxed. Therefore, the single parent in this example, would get to keep the entire $5000. The single parent will only be paying tax on the $40,000.

In the example with the couple with a single income will be taxed on the entire $45,000. At a marginal tax rate of 32.5 cents in the dollar, the additional $5000 per annum works out to $62.50 tax per fortnight. The single parent in the above example is now ahead of the single income family by about $5 per fortnight.

That's a good point. I know the OP is not receiving the single parent payment, but 99% of single parents do, which is about $150 more than PPP. So when you take into account the tax free of CS, and the other payment, minus another adult mouth to feed, I suppose CL sees that as pretty much equal to the 2 parent family.

Do couples who are both out of work and one receives PPP, does the other generally receive Newstart or student allowance though? They do need more because they have an extra mouth to feed, but I'd have thought they would be significantly better off because mum, for example, would receive PPP and dad Newstart (or whatever).

Yeah that makes no sense. It should be a case of if you are under the threshold and pay over $150 a week in rent I think it is, you get full rent assistance. It already barely touches helping with rent.

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